Teknoman Fan Fiction ❯ Shara's Last Gift ❯ The Lost Generation ( Chapter 3 )

{The author, watching the fight from the previous chapter, puts the empty can of soda in a nearby recycle bin, and continues to watch the happenings with interest.]

WH: As much as I dislike war and such, it can sure be entertaining, given the right parameters. (I.e. Like when it is not real in the first place.)




Teknos Warhammer
Presents:

Shara's Last Gift:
Chapter 3:
The Lost Generation

*****

"Seeing the war occur right outside my window only added the unwanted reminder of how little I've valued my own life. On one side; I have been working so hard for the countless others 'out there' that I had little to no time for taking care of myself. On the other; there is approximately five hundred people under my command, and to even lose one would make me feel like I've failed in my mission."

-Journals of Commander Nathaniel Jamison

*****

From their place in the air, Axe, Lance, and Rapier saw what appeared to be their new opponent. The only thing they could do was gawk as she came at them at a speed that none of them could match. What made it stranger was that her armor had no visible thrusters like theirs.

They would have continued to wonder why, but her scythe had interrupted them. The stranger scattered them as she swung her weapon at an arc that would have hit them all had they not moved. They regrouped at a cliff nearby and continued to gawk at the new intruder who seemed to fly in the sky without the propulsion they had.

"Impossible. How could humans make one? Only Master Darkon could do that!" cried Rapier as he brought out his namesake weapon. The thought enraged him to the point where he charged the stranger, but only missed as his foe landed on another ledge in front of them.

She swung her weapon into an offensive stance, "Wouldn't you like to know!" She never gave them a chance to reply as she charged and swung her left leg forward and into the side of his helmet, sending him reeling into the ground. With him out of the way, she attacked Ax viciously like a wolf for its prey.

Yet, her matchless speed proved not to be as great as Ax's defensive strength. The bar of Ax's weapon stopped her scythe and she was forced away and quickly found herself on the run.

"Now that I think about it... it would have been a good idea to have made a plan!" Tina whispered to herself as she barely dodged having her head lopped off.

She hopped off of Ax's head, only to be met in mid air by Rapier with his lightening-quick weapon. Diverting the point of his weapon away, she grabbed his forearms and used what little momentum she had to throw him away, giving her ample time to catch herself.

Noticing the dust moving about like a dust devil as she landed; she discovered her means of flight, notwithstanding the fact she had no boosters like Slade and the rest of them. It was the wind.

She was riding on the wind to fly and fight her enemies. She knew that she had power over a single element, given by Konatsu, but she was informed that she would find out for herself. Being distracted by the battle, she failed to notice this ability at first, but with this discovery, it made things a bit clearer.

However, further study would have to wait as her larger and more powerful foes charged. Tina was beginning to find this situation rather annoying as her foes swung their weapons at her relentlessly. Having one of them being bigger than her was bad enough, but another being nearly as fast as her was worse.

That was when a thought came to her, "Wait! Where's Lance?"

*****

Lance had floated away to a distance where he could see everything. "So, the humans have found a way to make their own. Well, let's see if they can do anything about it if they have no base left?" he thought and flew in the direction of the unprotected base.

Regardless of the danger, Ringo led the charge against him. "Hold it right there pal! When the sign says no guys like you allowed, it means just that! No exceptions!" Ringo sarcastically told Lance as the other pilots got into position.

"Out of my way insect! I have a traitor to destroy and if you want to be among those who will suffer," he paused to pull out his weapon, "then be my guest!" and charged the battle hardened Teknosuit pilot.

He only ran into several Z-Tron spheres before getting pelted by Ringo himself. A 30-meter in diameter sphere of green Z-Tron energy pulsated like a small sun. Until Lance flew out of the shrinking sphere and right at Ringo.

Before Ringo could equip any of his extra weapons, Lance had knocked them away and off his suit, having no intention of being hit by them again. With them out of the way he held Ringo by the back with both of his large hands.

The other pilots, not equipped with the experimental weapons Ringo had, found themselves at an impasse. They could not shoot at Lance for fear of hitting their commander and if they tried to take him with their bare hands, Lance would most likely tear them apart piece by piece. All they could do was watching in fear as their leader was being strangled to death.

"Where's your snide comments now, human?" Lance growled as he slowly applied more and more pressure to Ringo's neck.

The other could not reply due the fact he could not breathe, even if he wanted to.

From behind Lance, a figure, somewhat smaller than himself, came from below and struck the back of his neck, stunning him for a second. It gave Ringo the chance he needed to get free from Lance's grip and see who his rescuer was.

Shara, at her own personal risk, had changed into her armored form and was now pushing Lance downward into the reinforced roof of the Command Center. Considering her weakened condition, catching Lance off guard and saving Ringo was a stroke of pure luck. So, she decided to take advantage of the situation and flew away, hoping to lead him away from the command center.

Surely enough, when Lance had recovered his equilibrium, he saw Shara escaping to the south and quickly gave chase. He did not allow the idea of letting her escape into his mind at all.

Seeing this, and with no more spidercrabs to blow up, he ordered to his men over the radio, "Ok boys, time for us to head back. By the looks of things, our friends can take care of themselves." However, he still could not stand the thought of Shara facing Lance all by herself. However, his two newer weapons had been damaged, save for a third, but it required power that his suit's pack did not have.

"Whoever said that necessity was the mother of invention was right." He grumbled to himself and flew to two of the retreating soldiers.

They stopped the soldier and asked, "How full are your ammunition packs?"

Ryder and McPherson blinked, took a look at their respective power gauges, and reported them to be nearly full.

"Ok, you two give me yours and head back with the others."

The soldiers were about to ask why when Ringo interrupted, "Don't worry, I'll take care of it."

They nodded, took out their weapon's energy packs and handed them to Ringo. Taking one, he ejected one pack and put one of the nearly full packs within while putting the other on the carrying case attached to his back. His reload complete, he turned on the suit's afterburners and headed off in the direction after Lance and Shara.

*****

The two brothers fought with the furies of gods as their blades sung through the wind and rang like bells on a cathedral, sparks of light jumping from the contact point. The battle had lasted far beyond thirty minutes and it took Saber another thirty to realize that Slade's limit had either been extended or had just disappeared.

His advantage over Slade had been lost. This angered him greatly. Having no real advantage over his former brother, he was forced to fight on terms where he could either win or lose, and considering Slade's new power, weapons, and armor, he was going to lose.

"What's wrong, Saber? You seem to be a bit off your game today?" Slade said as he swung his improved lance again at Saber. Slade's foe dodged and charged again, growling in frustration.

Their weapons clanged once more and continued to do so, but as time lingered on, Saber found his strength going down.

"Enough! Saber, you will cease and desist in this attack!" Darkon roared from his base. "It is unfortunate enough that you have failed me, but failing twice is making beginning to make me reconsider using you as one of my own. Return to at once!!"

Saber could not argue the point. He had not only disobeyed his master's orders, but he had also shown no real progress in instigating this battle.

Taking a step back, Slade said, "I pity you, Saber. I'd pity you more if you still went back to him and continued to be his lackey."

"You don't understand, Slade. You can't... and you wouldn't..." Saber said turning away from his one-time brother. Hearing his foe say something like that make Saber even more furious. However, he was in enough trouble as it was and he would only be asking for more if he tried to continue and fight Slade.

Seeing Saber as he was made Slade recall the time when they had first met as foes. Slade had tried in vain to make his brother Cain listen to reason. That same feeling came back, only it was stronger than before. Also, he almost felt as if he could feel Cain's voice creeping in Saber's, begging to be released and out of the chains Darkon had imposed on him.

Sadly, as much as he wanted to help his brother, the man in front of him was at the present time, an enemy and would remain that way until either a cure was found... or resulting in him having to commit fratricide.

Saber grumbled from behind his back, "You've won this time, Slade. Bear in mind, however, that the war is far from over."

"I won't forget, Saber." He replied simply.

With that; Saber, Ax, and Rapier had all flown away into the sky from whence they came.

Even with things being as bad as they were, Tina was not complaining when her foes had left after faintly hearing Darkon's voice in her mind. She flew up to the same platform to where Slade was pondering the events that had just happened.

Over the radio, Ensign Yuuki asked, "Slade, are you ok?"

"Yes... but seeing all that... I don't know what to think." He said, feeling the strain of this long war beginning to take its toll on him. His family was torn to shreds, his home had become a wasteland, and people were still dying, regardless of his effort.

When the thought of his family came up, he questioned the Ensign again, "Say, where's Shara?"

*****

"Face it traitor. You've brought yourself to your own death!" Lance growled as he swung his weapon at Shara, who was barely able to block the attack in time. She buckled not only under the intense pressure Lance was putting on her, but her condition as well.

"No, I'm not going to give up. Not to you..." Shara said as she counter attacked as the volume in her voice increased "Not to Saber or to Darkon!" and attacked the former human with renewed strength that she never knew she had.

Neither warrior let up as their battle seemed to take an eternity. No quarter was given, neither was any given in return. It would be only one of them leaving that fight alive.

With each passing second, they both began to feel the strain on body and mind, more so on Shara's part. She had to think of something fast and since running away had lost its effectiveness, there could only be one alternative.

Getting a kick in at his gut, she was able to propel herself far enough away to try her next attack. Three glass-like spheres appeared from beneath her helmet and within seconds, power flowed all over them and never gave Lance a warning as she screamed "TEKNO BOLT!"

A flash of light came from the crystals and her primary projectile weapon flew at its intended target. The blast flew by as he dodged, but saw that the whole attack was merely a diversion.

Shara came flying right to him, blade at the ready. The only thing Shara didn't expect was that he caught her wrist and yanked her mid-section into his knee. She found her breath suddenly gone and began to plummet to the ground. Before that, Lance took advantage by elbowing the back of her head, therefore increasing the velocity of her decent and created a small crater in the process of her fall.

Lance saw this sight and laughed as hard as his now inhuman lungs could. "Pitiful, you still fight even though you have no chance against beating me. And now, you will pay for your treachery! Die, Dagger!"

He threw his lance toward the almost motionless Shara. Fate seemed to be on her side that day, for as the lance nearly skewered her, a green sphere of energy knocked it away. Its owner turned to see that the source of the blast was a single teknosuit.

From her place in the ground, Shara began to stir and saw someone standing in front of her, protecting her from Lance. Blinking, she took another look to see that it was Ringo, stadning like the sentinel that he was.

"Hey, Shara! What's a nice girl like yourself doing with a jerk like this?" Ringo snidely remarked over his radio to them both.

Not having the same sense of humor as Ringo, Lance replied simply. "Taking care of business. Now get lost or else you'll share the same fate as her."

"Ohh, I'm shaking. Why don't you stop bullying the kid and fight me, show how much of a man you are."

"Your confidence will be your death human!" and with that, Lance flew at Ringo, who was now more prepared this time. Lance missed as Ringo and Shara dove away.

"Hey, you ok?" he asked keeping his eyes on Lance's position.

"I've been better. Thank you, again." She answered weakly.

"Don't mention it, now lets get back to the Command Center. Your brother would probably go nuts if he didn't find you there." he ended with a smile through the face shield. She nodded and just before she was about to fly, he said "Wait, I'll give us some cover. Go hide over by that boulder."

As she hid, several other servos whirred and a wire-like frame in a 3-dimensional cube moved in front of the blaster's barrel. "When the coast is clear, stay close to me. We don't know if Saber and his buddies are still around." She nodded and waited for her rescuer's signal.

Ringo pulled on the trigger and kept it there. Soon, a small field of green energy began to grow and pulsate, until it changed color again. This time to blue, and then to a deep red. The blaster began to rumble, almost like it was going to explode. The energy built up, needed to be released or else the result would be something Ringo didn't want.

Which was fortunate, because Lance had spewed himself out of the Z-Tron sphere and looked about furiously for his foes.

"Hey, handsome!" Ringo screamed, "SMILE!"

He released the trigger and a sphere of red energy flew out of the cube and toward Lance. The shot sent Ringo flying in the other direction and he was still kicking up dirt by the time he reached Shara.

"GET BACK!" he yelled to her, they both took shelter behind a boulder as Lance in his blind rage, collided with the slow moving star of pure uncontrollable energy.

Then, shock waves rocked the area for about a mile and the whole sky seemed to turn red for a second. They both saw the resulting waves from the blast and the small earthquake was over with as well.

They both peeked over the rock to see the retreating and faltering form of Lance. He survived the attack, but he did not leave the battle unscathed.

From the looks of it, even Shara, in her weakened condition, could do her fair share of damage, but decided not to press their luck. They had already stretched theirs far beyond the limit.

"Ringo. What was that?" Shara asked as they began their trek from behind the rock.

"It's a little something that the boys in the lab made for me. It's called the Fusion Bomb, next to Slade's Anti-Matter Warheads, it's the most powerful weapon we got. Only problem is that it takes up quite a bit of Z-Tron from the power cells. That's why I brought this with me," he said, gesturing to the spare energy pack that he took from the soldier and began to install it where the now empty pack once was.

With the weapon gauge full, Ringo turned to the direction of the base and said to his protectorate, "Shall we go?"

*****

Meanwhile, at the edge of the Solar System, a gravity-well formed out of nowhere. Ice that had been removed from the planet Pluto, was sucked into the middle of the growing vortex, into nothing. The black hole continued to grow until it apparently reached threshold and exploded to reveal that it was more like the gate to a passageway in space itself.

Through the entrance of the gate, a single figure, slightly larger than most of the denizens of the Solar systen, floated through the planet's icy stratosphere and landed without a sound.

The figure stood for what might have been several minutes before its eyes glowed dull silver. It had searched for quite some time and now, it now felt his presence here. It saw in the distance, the moon that held the object of its reason for being there, thought, "I finally found you, Darkon. For far too long you've escaped me... but no more."

Before it was to proceed, it stopped and realized a feeling of Déjà vu had returned to it, and began to growl in frustration. "Of all the wretched, backwater systems you could have chosen... why this one?" Without a moment's thought, a silver aura appeared about it and from the planet's surface, sped towards the planet where her target was brooding.

*****

Several hours after the enemy had retreated, a convoy of supply trucks, carrying food, equipment, and materials raced into the bays of the Space Knight Command Center. Leading this convoy was one of the top executives of the company (which owned the Space Knights). It was Raye Hino, who had been at the Command Center only a few weeks earlier.

Within minutes of their arrival, repair crews had already begun to undo the damage the enemy had done as quickly as they could for the purpose of preparing for the next assault. The Command Center had taken several beatings since the war had begun and to some of the repair workers who were fortunate enough to still breathe, this was commonplace.

Inside Commander Jamison's office, the leader of the repair supplies convoy read over the report presented to her. "So... it was a success, was it not?"

He nodded in reply and continued, "Because of this, we've been able to repulse the enemy, this time."

"This time? But what about the time before?"

"I have a feeling that the reason why the enemy pulled back in the first place was because this leader of theirs was capable of finding out about the Thunderhawk. It was stopped."

"Yes, I know. The president was not too happy about it when he learned the news of what Galt was doing."

"How did President Trier find out?"

Raye began to smirk slightly, "A minor detail you don't need to worry about." Her smile then faded when another detail came to mind, "Wait, how was the missile stopped in the first place?"

"It was stopped by a source that was like Slade's power, but it was not him at all. From what he told us, it was most likely another teknoman."

The thought made her appear rather surprised, "What? Are you sure of that?"

Jamison didn't appear fazed as he answered, "Ask Slade. He was the one who saw it." Raye's momentary silence caused him to ask, "Is there anything wrong?"

Turning to him, she said, "Yes. The thought of seeing more of those things doesn't exactly make my day any better. Which brings us to another thing. Ms. Corman, or should I say, Scythe. In regards to these teknomen we're making on our own, I don't want any more made using humans. Is that understood?"

"It is, but why? Would it not be beneficial to make more?"

She turned to the window and answered, "That may be so, but the xenophobia would not help us at all. Corman is the first and the last. Only if it were vitally necessary, we would do this again. Period." She looked back at the report, "Next; what of Mr. Richards and the Z-TRG, the accelerator, and the Fusion Bomb?"

Recalling Ringo's own report, "Like the primary cannon, it effectively eliminates the alien spider crabs."

"And when used against the teknomen?"

"From what Mr. Richards has told me, the rail gun can dent their armor, the accelerator can tear through the armor, and the fusion cutter nearly destroyed one of their warriors."

The last report brought a smile to Raye's face. "That certainly makes things better. And the training of the newer teknosuit pilots?"

"Going according to schedule."

"Good." Placing the report on his desk, she began to walk to the door, "Oh, by the way, did you inform 'her' of our guests?"

"Yes. I've already arranged a transport to bring her here. She should be here by tomorrow morning. Which kind of surprises me that you would do something like this."

Raye paused before exiting, "Why should it?"

"Because it dispels the idea of you being a heartless raunch that most people think you are."

Raye nearly chuckled at the observation, "I enjoy proving people wrong about me... besides, Jamison, you're not the only one who thinks that way."

*****

Meanwhile, on the dark side of the moon.

"Incompetent... everyone of them." Darkon growled in contempt towards Saber and his three companions. He could not care less about his warriors' defeat at the hands of his enemies, or about the acquisition of another teknoman for their side. In the grand scheme of things, such small things would mean little, yet he was not ignorant of the fact that even small things had their own significance.

He paced around his lair, dwelling about the new warrior that had appeared and had made fools of Ax and Rapier. She was definitely not like his own. Her ability to access the power of the wind had surprised him greatly.

It appeared that the influence of Neigas was not as weak as he first gave it credit and the probability that the Mother herself was involved against him was not impossible. Certainly Ioroush, the God of Light according to his homeworld's theology, would not hesitate to turn against him as well. Yet his planet's idea of deity was certainly a more just god than most people gave him credit.

Then, there was Slade.

The first of his own to rebel against him.

Gunnar had failed in trying to defeat him and now it appeared that Saber was faring no better. Either Darkon had made poor judgment in choosing his warriors or Slade was simply a more resilient human than he appeared to be.

"You would know well, my friend." Darkon said, turning to the body that would soon be his host. This one was the best of all the humans he had captured from the Argos ship. In terms of physical, intellectual, and emotional prowess, this one had been the best of them all.

To make it better, if Slade ever discovered who it was, the identity alone would shake his courage. Every contingency had to be taken into consideration or else his foes would defeat him. He wanted to recoil at the thought of defeat. It brought back that horrid memory of another defeat he suffered a long time ago...

"ROLF! How could you let him escape?!" Darkon, then appearing in his un-armored form, shouted at his best friend.

"Because, Galin, it turns out that the man was innocent in the first place." Rolf said, walking to the edge of the peninsula of the camp where he and several others were. Rolf had been though a hard day of legal procedures of the planet and was quite tired from what was going on. In addition; Galin's murmuring was not helping his disposition at all.

"What do you mean innocent? I saw the man pull the trigger and shoot that woman!" Galin screamed in rage of the development going on.

"Look, Darkon. The whole ordeal had next to nothing to do with you! Now that the case has been closed, our business here is done and we need not worry about it."

"Rolf... are you saying that we have to leave here because this planet's legal system is so corrupt that criminals can get away with murder?"

With thinning patience, Rolf replied, "Yes, Darkon! But we can't do a thing about it! We're not this world's police force, the closest thing I can describe us is as mediators in times like this. We hold no real power here unless the government allows it."

"Mediators?! Rolf, that man shot his wife and because he had money, he was able to avoid getting his rightful punishment?! On my world, such a thing is not only forbidden, it's worthy of death. We need to take action against him or else he may..."

His patience gone, Rolf turned on his best friend and screamed, "SHUT UP, DARKON! Do you realize that we're NOT on your planet? Things are not as simple in the universe. Yes! I know everything you do, but if we were to act as judge, jury, and executioner on a world like this, they'd have a price on our heads so high that every bounty hunter in all the surrounding systems would be after us!"

The commotion had drawn the attention of all the other Teknos in the camp to them. Rolf had thrown his staff down in frustration and had walked away, leaving all the others wondering what had happened. More than that, it had started rumors going on within them all about their argument.

The single occasion had not only left him humiliated, but had left him defeated not once, but twice. Once by a system filled with corruption, the other being Rolf having to yell at him about something so basic as to let those do what they will to themselves.

Returning his thoughts to the present, he could sense Saber and the other three returning to their base. He would deal with them accordingly and let the past be there to teach them so as to avoid future mistakes.

*****

With the battle won, the protectors had all returned to the loading bay.

"Hey Slade! That was pretty neat, taking those guys' own blasts and tossing them right back at them." Ringo said, hopping out of his suit.

"Ringo didn't do too bad himself," Shara said with a tilt of her head to the aforementioned. "Not only did he save me, but he also managed to send Lance away hurting pretty bad."

"Really?" Slade said, sliding out of Pegas.

"Yes, but I think Ringo had better stop taking chances playing the white knight or else he just may end up regretting it." Shara kindly chided with a smile.

"So what! I'm still going to continue doing this until I actually regret doing it." Ringo returned. "And if I get my plug pulled, so what? It's the way I'd prefer to go, doing what's right."

A fourth entered the loading bay with a bit of a tired step. The other three turned to see Tina, still in her armored form, walking rather groggily beside Pegas, using the large robot as a support.

"Whoa, Tina, you alright?" Slade asked.

"I'm fine... kinda..." she shook her head to clear out what little disorientation she had from the battle earlier. Apparently her equilibrium had not adjusted completely and it was beginning to effect her performance.

"Tina, why don't you change back? Your body needs to rest from the drastic changes your body's been going under." Shara offered.

A bit exasperated, Tina replied, "As much as I'd like to, there's a little problem."

"What's that?"

"I'm not changing back until I get some clothes. I lost them when I went through the process and I doubt I could call them back from being... either way, I want to get a change of clothes." She said a bit defensively.

Shara started to chuckle, "Very well, I'll get you something to wear. Hold on a minute."

Tina shouted her thanks after Shara as she left that area of the loading bay and to the supply closets near other side. Finding a jumpsuit that would fit, she started on her way back, reflecting on the success of the operation.

It was one of the few things that she could do for her home world before she would have to leave it. As much as she tried to hide her silent fear of dying, it would never go away.

That horrid fact that she was going to die imminently continued to eat away at her courage, no matter how far she would push herself. Nobody wanted to die before his or her time and she was no exception. In addition, she could almost feel the process starting to affect her body, bit by bit.

Within about a month or less, she figured she would not be able to walk anymore. Her arms would come next... Within half that time, her nervous system and heart would finally give out on her... She wanted to cry at that thought, knowing first hand how she was to die.

She would be leaving Ness all alone again. Being in this position made her think at times that it would have been better if she had never left the pod in the first place. She would have gone against Slade and met her death at his hands... just like 'him'... It was all a no win situation.

She pushed those thoughts out, she remembered that there were more important things to worry about at the present time. Like getting poor Tina something to wear.

*****

The long debriefing session was finally over and Tina expressed her gratitude by stretching out her arms over her head and falling on her bed utterly exhausted.

It was at times like this that she was grateful the enemy retreated. Now she could catch up on sleep that her real body needed so desperately.

Yet, sleep would not come to her easy, so she continued to just stare at the ceiling, recalling the day's events.

Most specifically, her new found ability to utilize the wind itself. Leaning up against the wall, she thought it would not hurt to try and call her power to use the wind without her armor. It left her with several different anxieties that would not keep themselves quiet.

The foremost being that it may be harmful to try it without the armor to protect her. Another being that it may not even work. A different one said that it only worked with her armor. Endless doubts and possibilities voiced their concern over her curiosity.

Within minutes, those doubts became louder and louder until her mind was literally filled with annoying voices, screaming the same doubts over and over again. She mentally screamed back, "SHUT UP! I'm busy!" With that, the doubts left her alone. Visibly sighing, she cleared her mind to ready the experiment.

She held out both hands and tried to concentrate on the most basic part of what made up the wind, the nitrogen particles. In her mind's eye, she could see it. However, her vision continued to blur in and out of what she was able to see. In addition, mastering use of the wind proved to be a much more difficult endeavor that she first thought it was.

It all seemed to easy back in the battle. She didn't even have to think about her flight capability while she was fending off Ax and Rapier. So, why was this any different? What was the key that she needed to unlock the ability to use this element? As time passed with little or no results, her patience quickly melted away.

The more frustrated she became the more her train of thought vanished and she inevitably lost her control. She sighed and lay back down on her bed. Doing this put too much of a mental strain on her and now she was far too exhausted in both mind and body to continue.

Often, she had felt that her efforts of contributing to the defense of Earth were little or nothing at all. Being a communications officer was not exactly boring, but there were times where she wished she was out there in the heat of battle.

Risking her life to repel the enemy face to face had its thrill, but it was also nerve racking, now that she thought about it. As exciting as it seemed, she now realized, being in that communications chair was not as bad as it was.

With a sigh, she quickly changed into her pajamas and hopped onto her bed. Enough time was wasted thinking... now was the time for sleep.

*****

On the other side of the command center, Slade led his sister back to the room she had been staying in since she had come there in the first place. Earlier, she had put too much of a strain on her body and now she needed to rest. Her armored form had been far more draining than she had expected.

Ness took one last look at her before he closed the door to her room and leaned against the wall beside it. As happy as the day's victory made him, it was easily diffused by the ugly fact that his sister would no longer be with him soon. In addition, Saber's defeat against him today only made him depressed about how he had next to no chance of bringing his brother back.

Hearing another person's footsteps turned his attention from his thoughts to see Star walking from the dimly lit hallway to his location.

"Are you feeling all right? After a day like this, I would have thought you'd be smiling a little longer." She said taking a place in the wall beside him.

He shrugged away her attempt at humor and responded by inclining his head to his sister's room. Her own smile faded when she realized what he was talking about and she looked away, somewhat embarrassed that she didn't know better in the first place. His only sister dying was probably the hardest thing he had to deal with since he came to the Space Knight Command center.

"Star."

She turned to him. "Yes?"

The tone of voice seemed to have been based more out of curiosity than anything else. "Do you have any family?"

A small part of her wished that he not asked that question, nevertheless, she replied, "I did. I had a sister and a brother. I never knew my mom, and my father died about 5 years ago."

"Who do you remember the most?"

She took a moment to think about what to say. "Mostly my dad. Nowadays they're just images, fading slowly, no matter what I do."

Reminiscing about his own father, Ness continued, "What was he like?"

A long silence followed his question. The main reason being Star found the clear memories of her parent harder and harder to find. "He was... very strong, patient, and kind... but sad." She turned to him, "Why are you asking me this?"

Looking away, he said quietly, "I can hardly remember who my mother was. Even though the process had restored a lot of things to my memory... not all of it was recovered. I can't remember what kind of person she was."

With a somber look, she stared to the other side of the hall and whispered just below audible levels, "At least you had a mother..."

Between them, a long and somewhat uneasy silence had continued for who knew how long. Only the dull hum of the power current going through the generators kept the area from being completely silent. The light from the ceiling gave some light to the area from which they stood, but it still left Star partially left in darkness, while Slade was in the nowhere in lamp's light.

He then broke the silence by saying, "I'm sorry, Star."

She turned back to him to see him sighing deeply. "Now I've gone and depressed us both. I'm sorry, it's just that all this is just making this war even harder to cope with."

She began to smile a bit and replied, "Slade... or should I say, Ness, don't worry about it too much. We all have these kinds of hard times... and another thing..." she then walked out in front of him and said directly to his face, "Ness... I want to let you know that no matter what happens... you can count on me to be there to listen."

She reached up and cupped his face in her hands and continued with a firm, yet not too forceful smile, "I don't want you to go and hide in yourself like you've done before... will you come to me if there's any problem?"

Despite his initial shock, he soon calmed down and gave her words some careful thought. He took her wrists and slowly pulled her hands away from his face and said, "What do I have to lose?"

Her smile grew, "Nothing. You only get someone you can learn confide in and trust, no matter what."

Ness looked down for a second and then back up into her eyes. "All right then. If there's anything I need to talk about to anyone, I'll make sure and talk to you about it." And before she could say anything, it was his turn to surprise her by pulling her into an embrace and whispering to her, "Thank you, Star."

She too was shocked at first, but then relaxed and soon put her own arms around him, whispering back, "You're welcome."

It was almost regretful for them both when they parted. "I have to go, but I'll be back to check on how things are when I can." Star said, starting to walk away. He nodded and just as she was about to turn a corner,

"Hey, Star."

She turned back to him, wondering what he wanted to say.

"When we get another day off... you want to get something to eat in the city?"

Her smile returned and she said back, "I'd like that."

*****

Saber was alone in his chamber on the Lahdam probe, letting his mind wander back to the day's lost battle again and again. Slade could have killed him while his back was turned. It was not the fact that he didn't do it the first time, but all the chances he had before he did not different.

What irritated him the most was that this small matter was occupying more and more of his thoughts. And he had no idea why!

Axe and Rapier had stood by, contemplating their own problems they would not only meet at Darkon's hands, but their new foe, the one with the scythe. She was nothing that they had seen before. A foe with a capacity for flight that not only decreased her size and weight, but also increased her speed to something they could not match.

They soon pushed the anxieties out and began to converse with one another to think of a way to end the life of this new threat.

Lance on the other hand was still recovering in one of the rejuvenation pods. That human's weapon had turned out to be a much more life-threatening weapon than he first thought. It had taken him a lot more time to returns to the base due to the severity of his injuries.

Their bodies alone were not scathed, but their pride as well. All since the beginning of this war, next to no one had been able to stand up to their might. Now it appeared that their upper hand was slowly vanishing.

"Well, it seems that your strategy of brute force has finally failed. Well, it came as no surprise to me that all four of you failed at the same time." Another voice remarked as it entered the room.

The voice belonged to a more feminine looking than the others, but still had the pure bulk of being well defended. Clad in gold and opal colored armor, Teknoman Sword surveyed the situation of her allies and wanted to laugh, yet did not.

"Be silent Sword. We don't need your useless commentary." Axe growled. In his anger, he failed to realize that Sword's power was on par with, if not greater than, Saber's. That, which led to the conclusion that speaking in such a way to one more powerful than himself would be considered suicidal. She paid him no mind and walked to Saber.

"Master Darkon wishes to see us. And I think it would be best to pray to the human gods for safety, he did not appear to be happy when he saw how you four lost." She ended with a small cackle and turned to the exit.

He stood up and followed slowly, slient as can be. Ever since Sword had been hatched, he could almost feel how she wanted to compete for Darkon's favor. If that were so, this incident would not help things at all. He also knew that if things like this kept up, she would become more powerful than him. His pride would never allow such a thing.

As they entered into their master's resting chamber, Darkon's deep and commanding voice chilled Saber to the bone as he stepped in front of and knelt before his master.

"Saber... Tell me, why is it that after all that you have done for me, you have been failing me now?"

Saber faltered and with his head lowered, replied "I don't understand how I could have failed. But, what I do know is that Slade has become more powerful than before, they have stronger weapons, and even a new teknoman..."

"Which matters little!" Darkon interrupted. "I made you to be more powerful than this." His semi-visible form stepped near his servent and his eyes narrowed slightly. At that instant, an invisible force had seized Saber's neck and air had suddenly been hard to come by. He clawed at his neck, trying to release whatever invisble hands had gripped him over his throat.

"Tell me, Saber... why should I spare you after you've failed me?"

Saber found his voice gone and then closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable. Gunner had failed and he knew what had happened to him.

"Master, if I may speak on behalf of Saber," Sword spoke up. The other two turned to her, Saber more surprised than Darkon.

"Saber has served you well, which shows he is more than capable of leaving alive. Spare him your wrath this time, master. Let him rest and prepare for the next time he is needed."

Darkon stood silent for a moment. Seeing this, which he would never expected, spoke.

"Very well, Sword. I shall spare him this time. In the meantime, you shall in command until I have completed the metamorphisis of my host body."

Saber wanted to scream. Now he realized what Sword was doing, saving his hide so that she could be promoted. Under the current circumstances, anything he would have said would have only hurt him more than what has happened already. So he said nothing.

"Thank you master. Now concerning the traitors. I have a plan," Sword continued as the other two listened to her. As she explained her plan in detail, Darkon began to marvel at just how ruthless and cunning humans could turn out to be. It nearly made him want to respect humanity's capacity for inhuman cruetly.

*****

With Sword leaving to move her plan into action, Saber was about to leave as well.

"Saber." Darkon said before he could leave. "Stay here. I have something I wish to say to you."

Confused, he turned back to his master and waited for what would come. "I am not ignorant of what you have done in the past, and even with the recent happenings, it should come as no surprise. I let you and the others go so you could make them think they actually had a chance."

"Then, what we did..."

"Yes. Let the humans breathe for a little bit. Let them think they actually have a chance to win. Keep their hopes up and let them fight just as hard... and in the end, they'll curse whatever means they used to give them hope in the first place."

"But Slade, their weapons, and that new teknoman are..."

"...are nothing compared to my power! Besides... this war will not be won by brute force alone... a little creativity will make things interesting, which is why I'm letting Sword implement her plan."

"So... what will happen to me?"

Darkon's grin grew and he whispered deviously, "How would you like to receive a smiliar upgrade to your power like Slade did?"

Saber's eyes grew wide at the thought. Having power to match Slade's, making the odds of beating him even better, only refueled the fire of rage Saber felt for his former brother. "Yes, master, I'll do anything to receive such power."

"And you shall, Saber... you shall." Darkon said, his intention to up the scales in this war greater than before.

End of Chapter 3

[Warhammer sneaks down the hallways of Darkon's ship, away from that last scene.]

WH: Ohhh, scary huh? Well, I like it.

First off; the majority of this chapter is merely a rewrite of the original chapter 3, some scenes deleted and put into the next chapter. For those who've seen the first draft, you'll know which scenes were moved and which ones were not.

Next, the idea of Tina using the wind as her part of being a Teknos was something I had to think over for quite a while. So, in this, if someone were to actually be able to use the wind in such a manner in the chapter, I would think that only the action, which required no thought, would work them in. Also, if he or she wanted to use it consciously, it would be a lot more difficult. It's all part of the discipline...

So... how do you Sailor Mars fanboys like seeing your idol in uniform, acting somewhat OOC? Well, I got some good news for you, you'll be seeing more of this in later chapters, along with another fanboy favorite from Sailor moon.

Remember everyone... this is a megaxover universe story... but it all starts out with mere cameos...

Ringo's weapons... they come from Acclaim's Turok: Dinosaur Hunter... they're big, they make things go boom, and it makes me happy. That's all you need to worry about. ^_^

A fellow author was kind enough to remind me about Shara's attitude about dying. Giving his sagely words some thought, I had to come up with something appropriate that would let people know that dying is something that not everyone can take easily. Death has been, still is, and always will be a hard thing to deal with. Just like life.

My personal favorite part of this chapter was the little scene between Slade and Star. It's just a small step that I'm helping them take. Which would be a good idea for any two people who want to start something together. Taking small steps at a time... now... if only I could do that... ^^;;
[Sword appears]

Sword: If you could do that, I'd be scared.

Don't start, please? Now, get back to being evil, you're needed in the next chapter.

Sword: Ok, ok...(leaves)

Well, next, another chunk of Darkon's (made-up)past is brought to light, thanks to moi. It's one of the things I've wanted to do with this character is to give as many people the appropriate back-story so they can be understood by other characters and readers alike. I'm only expanding what I saw from the TV series and made some stuff up from my own imagination, which is why I LOVE fanfiction.

Now that I've taken enough space in rambling, I got to get going with chapter 4 after I get my physics homework done. Till then folks.

Now; before I forget;
Teknoman and everything related to it belongs to UPN(despite the fact they shouldn't because they cancelled it in mid-season...)
Tekkaman Blade and everything related to it belongs to Tatsunoko productions.
The Railgun, Particle Accelerator, and Fusion Cutter(Bomb in this story) belong to Acclaim.
Konatsu belongs to Rumiko Takahashi sensei.
Miaka Yuuki belongs to Yuu Watase sensei.
Sailor Mars belongs to Naoko Takeuchi sensei.
Rolf belongs to Sega Enterprises.
And everything related to the Teknos idea belongs to me. :p


[Runs through the halls and to author-space where his homework eagerly waits.]